Theme: Palindrome Pairs (36A. Three pairs of them end the answers to starred clues: PALINDROMES) - The ends of three symmetrical pairs of theme answers are palindromes.
17A. *Dense fabrics: DOUBLE KNITS. And 60A. *More than just grumble: RAISE A STINK. The first and last theme answers are paired. Knits is stink spelled backwards.
20A. *Ready to blow?: OVER STRESSED. paired with 54A. *"Top Chef" spin-off involving competitive baking: JUST DESSERTS. Then the second answer is paired with the penultimate answer. This one impressed me the most. Not just an acronym, stressed is desserts spelled backwards.
27A. *It'll keep your hat on: CHIN STRAP. paired with 44A. *Carquest stock: AUTO PARTS. Finally the third answer is paired with the ante-penultimate answer. Strap is parts spelled backwards.
Al here.
Along with the pairing, there was also some impressive symmetry work involved. The tip-off answer was positioned in the very center. Every pair has one answer that starts on the left edge of the grid and its mating answer answer ends on the right edge, and constructed so that both answers within a given pair are the same length as each other. Amazing 8-letter overlaps on the first and last pair of theme answers.
I can't help wondering how many puzzles from Dan are left before they are gone. Seven theme answers, using 75 squares, that's over 40% of the puzzle letters. Another quick solve for me today though, the short answers were mostly easy. I think abjure was the only word where I had to look up the meaning afterward.
Across:
1. Yankees' div.: AL EAST. Baseball. The Yankees are in the American League.
7. Deal: COPE. From Old French: couper, to hit, originally meant "come to blows with", and later evolved into "handle successfully". This would make coping so much more satisfactory, sometimes...
11. Jenny or jack: ASS. Names which became generic for male and female, applied to other animals (wren) and objects (spinning jenny, car jack). Note that "jack" was not capitalized here, so a name was not being clued. Ridden by 69A. Quixote's squire __ Panza: SANCHO.
14. Alter, as boundaries: REDRAW. Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, was lampooned when his party redistricted the state in a blatant bid to preserve an Antifederalist majority. One Essex County district resembled a salamander, and a newspaper editor dubbed it a Gerrymander.
15. Slain shepherd: ABEL. Killed by his brother Cain. With 49A. 15-Across's dad: ADAM.
16. "Fer sher": YEP.
19. Prior to, to Prior: ERE. Interesting echo here. The second Prior (capitalized) refers to English poet Matthew Prior.
22. Fettuccine follower: ALFREDO. Noodles with Parmesan cheese and butter. And in the US mostly with cream as well.
25. Aborigines of Hokkaido: AINU. Japan.
26. Compress, in a way: BALE. Hay, straw, cotton, etc.
32. Cat tail motion: SWITCH. Twitch + swish making a portmanteau word that already exists?
35. Specialty: AREA.
40. Lots: A TON. Originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun.
41. Area 51 location: NEVADA.
50. Bingo call: B-TEN. Each letter has a possible 15 sequential numbers starting with one. There are 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 different Bingo cards possible.
51. Kettle pair: MA AND PA.
59. www address: URL. Uniform Resource Locator. With 3D. 59-Across ending: EDU.
64. Messenger letters?: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid. Travels out of the cell nucleus to deliver coded instructions to assemble proteins.
65. Ain't right?: ISN'T.
66. Have suspicions about: BE ON TO.
67. One hairpin turn after another: ESS.
68. Cribbage markers: PEGS.
Down:
1. Not easy, to a Cockney?: 'ARD. Hard. Letter H is dropped in Cockney accent.
2. MGM mascot: LEO.
4. Botanical gardens: ARBORETA. An arboretum is a collection of trees or woody plants. Specific arboreta names include: fruticetum, viticetum, and pinetum.
5. Soother: SALVE.
6. Rough wool cloth: TWEED. A trade name said to have developed from a misreading (supposedly by London hatter James Locke) of tweel, Scottish variant of twill, possibly influenced by the river Tweed in Scotland.
7. Six-pack units: CANS. And 22A. Six-pack units: ABS. Mostly an either/or choice, unless you really work at it.
8. Notice with a bio, often: OBIT.
9. Czech hockey player Nedved: PETR. Why would we care? Well, he married her.
10. Threat ender: ELSE.
11. Music to a captain's ears: AYE, SIR.
12. Star sometimes seen opposite Venus?: SERENA. The Williams sisters, tennis stars.
13. Stepped on it: SPED UP.
18. McDonald's founder: KROC. Ray.
21. Gathered dust: SAT.
23. Postgraduate study: LAW.
24. Emma Peel's hair style: FLIP.
28. "I wish I __ seen that": HADN'T. That which has been seen can never be un-seen. I'll be kind and not link anything here.
29. Factory outlet tag abbr.: IRR. Irregular.
30. Vegas gas: NEON. Jumping Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas.
31. Identical: SAME. Literally from Latin: idem "the same" (from id "it, that one") + demonstrative suffix -dem.
33. Show enjoyment at a show: CLAP.
34. __ high note: HIT A. Payoff at 3:34.
37. Where the Lofoten Isl. are: NOR. Abbr. for Islands, and for Norway.
38. Northwestern University city: EVANSTON. The only private school in the Big-10. The Wildcats.
39. Teen safety org.: SADD. Originally: Students Against Driving Drunk, now they are against Destructive Decisions. Founders of the "Contract for Life" between parents and their children.
42. Skip over water, as stones: DAP. There is actually a North American Stone Skipping Association. The record is 40 skips.
43. Doc bloc: AMA. American Medical Association.
44. Officially retract: ABJURE. From Latin abjurare "deny on oath," from ab- "away" + jurare "to swear,"
45. One-way street no-nos: U-TURNS.
46. Magnetic measures: TESLAS. If only he was this popular in his day...
47. Hudson Bay prov.: ONT. Ontario. Did you ever notice that Canananananada is like banananana? It's hard to know when to stop.
48. Hook's right hand: SMEE. I wanted this to be hook, just for the irony, but "gone" would have worked, too.
52. Saudis, usually: ARABS.
53. On the Aegean: AT SEA.
55. Water waster: DRIP.
56. Slack off: EASE.
57. Participate in karaoke: SING.
58. Grounded jets: Abbr.: SSTS.
61. Ltd. relative: INC. Limited is the British "incorporated".
62. Nonspecific extreme: NTH.
63. "Koochie-__!": KOO. Possibly not safe for work, or while you're drinking something...
Answer Grid.
Al
17A. *Dense fabrics: DOUBLE KNITS. And 60A. *More than just grumble: RAISE A STINK. The first and last theme answers are paired. Knits is stink spelled backwards.
20A. *Ready to blow?: OVER STRESSED. paired with 54A. *"Top Chef" spin-off involving competitive baking: JUST DESSERTS. Then the second answer is paired with the penultimate answer. This one impressed me the most. Not just an acronym, stressed is desserts spelled backwards.
27A. *It'll keep your hat on: CHIN STRAP. paired with 44A. *Carquest stock: AUTO PARTS. Finally the third answer is paired with the ante-penultimate answer. Strap is parts spelled backwards.
Al here.
Along with the pairing, there was also some impressive symmetry work involved. The tip-off answer was positioned in the very center. Every pair has one answer that starts on the left edge of the grid and its mating answer answer ends on the right edge, and constructed so that both answers within a given pair are the same length as each other. Amazing 8-letter overlaps on the first and last pair of theme answers.
I can't help wondering how many puzzles from Dan are left before they are gone. Seven theme answers, using 75 squares, that's over 40% of the puzzle letters. Another quick solve for me today though, the short answers were mostly easy. I think abjure was the only word where I had to look up the meaning afterward.
Across:
1. Yankees' div.: AL EAST. Baseball. The Yankees are in the American League.
7. Deal: COPE. From Old French: couper, to hit, originally meant "come to blows with", and later evolved into "handle successfully". This would make coping so much more satisfactory, sometimes...
11. Jenny or jack: ASS. Names which became generic for male and female, applied to other animals (wren) and objects (spinning jenny, car jack). Note that "jack" was not capitalized here, so a name was not being clued. Ridden by 69A. Quixote's squire __ Panza: SANCHO.
14. Alter, as boundaries: REDRAW. Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, was lampooned when his party redistricted the state in a blatant bid to preserve an Antifederalist majority. One Essex County district resembled a salamander, and a newspaper editor dubbed it a Gerrymander.
15. Slain shepherd: ABEL. Killed by his brother Cain. With 49A. 15-Across's dad: ADAM.
16. "Fer sher": YEP.
19. Prior to, to Prior: ERE. Interesting echo here. The second Prior (capitalized) refers to English poet Matthew Prior.
22. Fettuccine follower: ALFREDO. Noodles with Parmesan cheese and butter. And in the US mostly with cream as well.
25. Aborigines of Hokkaido: AINU. Japan.
26. Compress, in a way: BALE. Hay, straw, cotton, etc.
32. Cat tail motion: SWITCH. Twitch + swish making a portmanteau word that already exists?
35. Specialty: AREA.
40. Lots: A TON. Originally "space occupied by a tun or cask of wine," thus identical to tun.
41. Area 51 location: NEVADA.
50. Bingo call: B-TEN. Each letter has a possible 15 sequential numbers starting with one. There are 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 different Bingo cards possible.
51. Kettle pair: MA AND PA.
59. www address: URL. Uniform Resource Locator. With 3D. 59-Across ending: EDU.
64. Messenger letters?: RNA. RiboNucleic Acid. Travels out of the cell nucleus to deliver coded instructions to assemble proteins.
65. Ain't right?: ISN'T.
66. Have suspicions about: BE ON TO.
67. One hairpin turn after another: ESS.
68. Cribbage markers: PEGS.
Down:
1. Not easy, to a Cockney?: 'ARD. Hard. Letter H is dropped in Cockney accent.
2. MGM mascot: LEO.
4. Botanical gardens: ARBORETA. An arboretum is a collection of trees or woody plants. Specific arboreta names include: fruticetum, viticetum, and pinetum.
5. Soother: SALVE.
6. Rough wool cloth: TWEED. A trade name said to have developed from a misreading (supposedly by London hatter James Locke) of tweel, Scottish variant of twill, possibly influenced by the river Tweed in Scotland.
7. Six-pack units: CANS. And 22A. Six-pack units: ABS. Mostly an either/or choice, unless you really work at it.
8. Notice with a bio, often: OBIT.
9. Czech hockey player Nedved: PETR. Why would we care? Well, he married her.
10. Threat ender: ELSE.
11. Music to a captain's ears: AYE, SIR.
12. Star sometimes seen opposite Venus?: SERENA. The Williams sisters, tennis stars.
13. Stepped on it: SPED UP.
18. McDonald's founder: KROC. Ray.
21. Gathered dust: SAT.
23. Postgraduate study: LAW.
24. Emma Peel's hair style: FLIP.
28. "I wish I __ seen that": HADN'T. That which has been seen can never be un-seen. I'll be kind and not link anything here.
29. Factory outlet tag abbr.: IRR. Irregular.
30. Vegas gas: NEON. Jumping Jack Flash, it's a gas gas gas.
31. Identical: SAME. Literally from Latin: idem "the same" (from id "it, that one") + demonstrative suffix -dem.
33. Show enjoyment at a show: CLAP.
34. __ high note: HIT A. Payoff at 3:34.
37. Where the Lofoten Isl. are: NOR. Abbr. for Islands, and for Norway.
38. Northwestern University city: EVANSTON. The only private school in the Big-10. The Wildcats.
39. Teen safety org.: SADD. Originally: Students Against Driving Drunk, now they are against Destructive Decisions. Founders of the "Contract for Life" between parents and their children.
42. Skip over water, as stones: DAP. There is actually a North American Stone Skipping Association. The record is 40 skips.
43. Doc bloc: AMA. American Medical Association.
44. Officially retract: ABJURE. From Latin abjurare "deny on oath," from ab- "away" + jurare "to swear,"
45. One-way street no-nos: U-TURNS.
46. Magnetic measures: TESLAS. If only he was this popular in his day...
47. Hudson Bay prov.: ONT. Ontario. Did you ever notice that Canananananada is like banananana? It's hard to know when to stop.
48. Hook's right hand: SMEE. I wanted this to be hook, just for the irony, but "gone" would have worked, too.
52. Saudis, usually: ARABS.
53. On the Aegean: AT SEA.
55. Water waster: DRIP.
56. Slack off: EASE.
57. Participate in karaoke: SING.
58. Grounded jets: Abbr.: SSTS.
61. Ltd. relative: INC. Limited is the British "incorporated".
62. Nonspecific extreme: NTH.
63. "Koochie-__!": KOO. Possibly not safe for work, or while you're drinking something...
Answer Grid.
Al
